A story that has disappeared off the front pages is the controversy over encryption on smart phones, but you may still read about this on the inside pages.

Since their popular acceptance in this century, the smart phone has become absolutely central to the lives of many users; and with this concerns over personal privacy.

Software maker Paraben Corporation created tools for law enforcement use such as the “Cellular Seizure Investigation Stick” that was billed as a tool for collecting and preserving evidence. This soon made a simple traffic stop, or boarding an airplane a potential for loosing important personal information. An officer could say “Let me see your phone for a minute” and that is all it took for them to suck off all the contacts, call logs, emails, calendar, texts, web surfing history, photographs, passwords and even files that had been deleted. And this was possible if the phone had a password lock or not.